Josh Love, QB, San Jose State
You had to know that one more quarterback was making this list.
Jordan Love is not the only QB with a nameplate that reads “J. Love” that is worthy of a draft pick. His counterpart from San Jose State, Josh Love, fits that bill as well. The Spartan took an interesting road to San Jose State, as Love spent time at two different high schools including Tesoro High School before finding his way to Long Beach Poly High School. While at Tesoro, the head coach was fired and the quarterback coach pled guilty to heroin possession, forcing Love to look to a different program.
While at Long Beach Poly, Love played well enough to become a three-star recruit and the 71st pro-style quarterback in the country. But that was not enough to earn any scholarship offers, probably because most schools were onto the next recruiting cycle. Love walked on at San Jose State, earning playing time in both 2016 and 2017 before becoming the starter in 2018.
Last year, however, Love shined. He completed 60.9% of his throws for 3,923 yards and 22 touchdowns, with just eight interceptions. He became the first player in school history to earn Mountain West Offensive Player of the Year honors, and according to Pro Football Focus he was one of the ten most valuable players in all of college football last season.
Watching him on film, two things stand out. First, the ability to push the football downfield in the vertical passing game. On this play against San Diego State, he drops in a bucket shot on a slot fade route to open the proceedings:
Then, Love is fearless in the pocket. He put up over 400 yards on Arkansas on the road this year, and again, he opens the game with this beautiful downfield throw knowing full well he is going to take a shot:
Love is undersized, just a hair taller than six feet and that will certainly move him down draft boards. He also has just the one season of true upper level production. But if a team is willing to take a flier on him on the third day of the draft, they might just cash in a lottery ticket.